15 years after man's disappearance, family seeks answers

Curtis Pishon's car found burning after shift at security job

Curtis Pishon had dedicated his life to public service, but when his health took a serious turn, he ended up working in a factory on the Seacoast as a security guard.

15 years after man's disappearance, family seeks answers

Curtis Pishon's car found burning after shift at security job

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Updated: 11:03 PM EDT Jul 5, 2015

SEABROOK, N.H. —

Curtis Pishon had dedicated his life to public service, but when his health took a serious turn, he ended up working in a factory on the Seacoast as a security guard.

Fifteen years ago, Pishon disappeared. His body has never been found.

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Authorities said it is officially a missing person case, but they said the circumstances are suspicious. Investigators and the family said they want answers.

"He was my brother, and I love him, you know?" said his sister, Crystle Pishon. "And there's things that if he were here, it would be different."

Curtis Pishon loved playing baseball, and his signed glove was salvaged from his burned-out car by his mother. It's one of a handful of things the family has left to remind them of their son and their brother who vanished 15 years ago.

"He has just disappeared and is still a missing person's case, although foul play is suspected," Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati said.

Curtis Pishon was one of four children. He joined the Army as a young man and served as an MP. His father said it was a way to prepare himself to become a police officer, the only job he ever wanted.

"It was the most important thing in his life," said his father, Nick Pishon. "It was what he wanted to do since he was a little boy."

For 10 years, Curtis Pishon worked as a Concord police officer, but his career and his world fell apart when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"I think he was crushed," his sister said. "I think he was lost. I think he was realizing that what he wanted to do he couldn't do anymore, and he had no idea what else to do. So he was just lost."

He couldn't fire his sidearm. He couldn't throw a baseball. He retired from the Concord police and kicked around a few jobs until finally landing work as a security guard at a Seabrook auto parts factory.

Curtis Pishon showed up to work the night shift on July 4, 2000, part of a skeleton crew for the holiday. What happened over the next few hours is a mystery.

"A few things happened that night," Chief Michael Gallagher said. "One was that Mr. Pishon's car was caught on fire. No. 2, which we discovered later, was that there were vending machines and a change machine that was broken into using a forklift that was on the property."

At about 3:20 a.m. July 5, Curtis Pishon's supervisor checked on him at his guard shack.

"Around 3:45, it was noticed that he was missing from his position, and two cars were seen driving away at a high rate of speed leaving the factory," Agati said.

"When they called me that morning and they said he disappeared and his car had a fire and all of that, we all thought that he may have done himself in," his father said.

Suicide seemed likely at the time because of Curtis Pishon's illness and the end of his police career. But investigators said some things weren't right.

There were lots of theories. Did he just walk away or did he see something that night at the factory?

Curtis Pishon's cigarettes, lighter and lunch were in his guard shack, and his apartment was untouched. Credit card and bank activity stopped, and his body was never found.

"It's treated as a missing person, but I think from the very beginning, it was unusual and suspicious, I guess is the best way to phrase it," state police Sgt. Joseph Ebert said.

Five years ago, police tore up a filled-in Seabrook swimming pool looking for evidence, but they found nothing.

The family had Curtis Pishon legally declared dead in 2008. He has an empty grave at the Veterans Cemetery and has left an empty space in his sister's life.

"This weekend, I was clearing through my daughter's stuff in the basement, and I found a box of cards from my daughter's first birthday, and the first one I picked up was from Curt," Crystle Pishon said. "And he never got to see her grow up. Things like that come out of nowhere. Even when you think you're doing good, something like that comes in and brings it all back."

The Pishon family said the most important thing is to find his remains. It has offered a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the recovery of Curtis Pishon's body and the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for his death.